Anthropomorphic Tales
by Arcadya
Summary: TV Prompt - Bonus Challenge #7: Doppelgangland - COMPLETE AU - Worlds collide when a not-so-little mermaid falls for a very human man, some may even say... prince? Nearly every character will make an appearance at some point, promise.
1. Rule Number One

_I think it might be clear to anyone who's been paying attention, recently, that Sienna27 has been shouting from the rooftop, on multiple buildings, that I '**promised**' her that I'd write something for Kavi's fairytale CM prompt, in the AU prompting section of the TV Prompt Challenge: The Request per Kavi was any acceptable het pairing, a Fairytale theme. I had to take any Disney movie and write our favorite CM characters are the protagonists;  
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_I never 'promised' that was a total lie. _

_I said it sounded interesting, not that I'd actually write anything. But since she's declared it in like two or three places, I kind of have to now. I'm easily swayed by peer pressure like that!_

_Therefore, I welcome you to the weird world of Arc-verse: the Disney version.

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**Rule Number One: Everything must have a beginning**

Having a tail was normal.

Even contemplating exchanging that normality for a chance at above world dwelling was inconceivable; for anybody except Emily, Reid and Garcia.

Except Garcia and Reid didn't actually want to go above the seas and live with the strange ones. The _humans_; Garcia had informed them.

Garcia already had two 'feet', I think she called them. What further experiences could she obtain from living in the above world? She technically already did.

Reid and I had first met Garcia months ago. We'd been searching for more above-world artifacts. Well, I had. Reid was just tagging along, helping me out, being the best best friend a mermaid could have. Reid was interested in everything and anything though, so it wasn't like he wasn't getting something out of our little expedition.

On the best 'finding' trip, we found this trident-looking thing. Only it was tiny, and shiny, and not really trident-y because the spears of the trident were too close together, but it was cute and pretty.

I loved it.

But I didn't know what it was.

So we set out to find someone who could.

And that was how we stumbled across the seagull outcast known as Garcia. She was an odd bird, but she was intelligent and knowledgeable, and really, who else was I going to find that would tell me (honestly) all they knew about the above-world?

But perhaps I should go back to the beginning.

Well, not the entire beginning beginning because who really needs to know the ins and outs, and down-right ookiness, of how fish-people are born… there's like these jelly-filled egg-sac thingies that pop out of the mother, or the father in the case of some fish folk (seahorses and the like), then there's the business with tentacles and/or fins and/or arms, and tails you can't forget the tails!

And at this point I think I should stop. You get the picture.

It's like learning that god is real, but that the world he created you in is his first draft, and now that he's got everything nicely sketched out, he's off to create the 'real' world, but obviously is too nice of a bloke to just kill your world off (and subsequently you). So, you get the dud prize! You get to keep your second rate world, but all the 'real' people get to have their happy un-ooky world over in the next universe. Kind of like a cosmic semi-joke.

_I met a man._

Not a merman, or a fish, or a flounder, or an unpredictably large seahorse, or a rather dashing and intelligent octopus. No, I met a man.

A _human_ man.

My father would not be pleased.

Understatement.

I'd been swimming perilously close to the surface, not anywhere near land, so it really shouldn't have been a problem. Except for the fact that I was alone; I hadn't even hooked Reid in to accompany me.

That's when I saw him. It was the age-old story, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall for each other, then his ship catches on fire and he nearly drowns to death while simultaneously getting mauled by a shark and the girl rescues him by dragging him toward the shore, hundreds of miles away…

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Aaron lent over the rail, looking into the sea; she was there again. The woman.

"What is it?" She asked, like there was nothing weird about a woman bobbing around in the ocean hundreds of miles from land.

"It's just, it's not every day you meet a beautiful (well, from the moonlight she looked quite beautiful, but it _was_ night, you could never be too sure, she seemed like she was the type of woman that would be pretty) woman, such as yourself, swimming freely in the ocean." He responded.

"Why?" She asked innocently. And he was struck again by this naivety she kept exuding. Did she truly not understand that she should be freezing her ass off by now?

It was late, dark and cold. He was rugged up in thick socks, boots, he had long johns under his pants, and he had three layers on, including a beanie. He rubbed his hands together, and wished he hadn't left his gloves back in his bunk. But he wasn't about to go back now, not since she'd finally arrived. He'd been waiting out on the deck for her for about three hours.

"Well, you just don't." He answered.

"Do the women you know not like the ocean?" She asked, again. She seemed to be interested in his life and in his world, at least from this conversation.

But what he really wanted to know was who she was and where she came from. There were no ships on his radar, no one ever answered his hails, there were no islands and no submarines. And yes, he knew how weird his life must be when he started contemplating the idea that this mysterious woman escaped from a submerged U-boat to greet him with the kiss of night and the stars and the moon.

She never wore a wetsuit, or any other _human_ clothing. He was starting to think she was either a figment of his imagination, a manifestation of his broken mind (just say it Aaron – a hallucination) or a mermaid… he didn't know which theory he was supposed to feel better about either. Because this woman, he was pretty sure he could love her for the rest of his life. If only he could spend more time with her, and by more time he meant not leaning over a railing trying to have a real conversation with her while she bobbed and splashed mysteriously and annoyingly (most of the time) beneath him in the freezing waves.

In fact what she did _wear_ was… pleasantly revealing. But he wasn't entirely sure she knew that. Her hair was long, and surprisingly quick dry; he'd noticed that too, yesterday. The second day he'd met her. Well, noticed her. Because he'd first noticed a strange shape in the ocean, three days/nights ago, and figured out _it_ was a _woman_ two days/nights ago, and today/tonight was the first time they'd spoken. He knew she was curious, why else did she keep coming back?

They'd spent an awkward first hour working up the courage to talk to one another. Then they'd tried to find topics to talk about that they both got enjoyment out of… they'd just come out of a quiet reflection when he'd decided to let her know just how utterly weird it was for her to be bobbing about in the ocean like that.

Finally, he remembered the question he was supposed to be giving an answer to, "No, women like the ocean, some women anyway. And they like to swim, mostly though they sun-bake on the beach."

Her pretty face scrunched up into a look of consternation then. A watery hand reached up to pluck at her lip in thought.

"Sun-bake?" He thought he heard her echo. It was strange, because the way she said that word… it was like she had never heard the concept before.

And he guessed she mustn't have. Her skin was purely pale, it was beautiful and he was struck with the urge to find out her name.

Before he got the chance to ask her, an alarm clamored from somewhere within the ship. Men and women and a monkey (monkey?) came running from every direction. 'Fire!' they screamed, 'fire!' Aaron thought the flames might have already cued 'normal' people into that. All of them stampeding for the lifeboats. Once more it crossed Aaron's mind that the human race was really quite silly once the mob mentality got started. One little word, one little idea and entire group of normally self-respecting, intelligent and common sensed individuals went ape-shit. Quite literally, they would start flinging their own feces around the room if they saw someone else doing it first. Or was that sheep?

Point is… the commotion made her duck away. Or dunk away? What is the correct verb for a woman who's more comfortable in the sea, than on a handsome man's ship?

Did he mention the dark and the cold and the wet and the freezing?

She was gone, sinking into the deep, blackness that was the sea.

The ship sunk quickly. He'd make analogies to The Titanic, but that would be a little tasteless given that no one died, although the randomly appearing monkey took a good whack at it. Some tag-along stow-away thought bringing home a monkey from the islands would be a good idea… he was obviously not aware of the customs procedures regarding live animals.

Aaron did not make it to a life-boat.

As the calls of his fellow ship-mates grew fainter and fainter, he began to worry that he was going to die out here. He'd heard that drowning was peaceful. But he didn't know how much stock he put into that and he found, he actually didn't want to find out either. The whole idea of your lungs filling up with liquid, most of which was salty and briny wasn't a pleasant idea. But he was tired, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep drifting and treading water. He supposed he could float, but the waves had steadily been getting rockier and the swells larger. Floating would not do in these waters.

And what was that thing coming toward him at a really fast speed?

Oh wait, is that a shark?

Oh… that can't be good.

Why isn't he swimming? She thought. She'd watched him sort of flubbering along. His two… what were they called again? His two tails that weren't, they were flipping catastrophically. And without much useful momentum. No wonder the women he knew didn't swim, if he was anything to go by, their whole species were useless in the water. But she supposed, when you didn't live in the water, you didn't need to be good (or even competent) in the water.

She saw George, or George's cousin, or his nephew. Eh, it was hard to tell them apart. She called out a quick hello; George got the picture, responded with a greeting. She realized it was George's cousin, he was nicer, and then he did the only respectable thing he could. He left them to it.

But this point, the nice and rather handsome man she'd been visiting for the past few days was going down fast. It was like the waves were hurting him. He was struggling to get back up the top. Then she remembered something Reid had said, that humans were like dolphins, they needed air. They couldn't breathe underwater.

Humans weren't like Merpeople; they could only breathe air, not water too.

She swam over quickly, grabbing his arms and hauling him toward the surface. He was asleep, or something like it, once they made it there. She began to drag him toward land. It was long and hard, and he wasn't waking up. She made it to the shore around daybreak.

Emily waited with him in the shoals.

She caressed his forehead. She wondered what was so intriguing and different about this man as opposed to all the other mermen her father introduced her to, why was this one special?

He woke up with the starched feeling of dried salt in his hair, in his clothes and on his skin. There was the soft but soothing whoosh of the ocean tide and the heat of the morning sun was burning out the coldness in his limbs. Unfortunately his feet were quite soggy, and the bottoms of his pants were soaking up water quicker than his brain could notice.

And that was definitely a hand touching his face.

He cracked open an eye and squinted directly into the line of sight with the sun.

Ouch! He groaned internally and sarcastically. At least he knew his brain was still somewhat functioning.

Blinking rapidly, he sought for the figure that was delicately accosting him… soothing him? Molesting him, his brain added with a silent snort. He was definitely not complaining. It felt wonderful, and it almost made him forget about the squelchy, slimy frond of seaweed creeping up his leg.

"Nngh." An inarticulate sound emanated from the man. Aaron. That's how he had introduced himself.

"Shh…" She hushed, and for some unknown reasons, her words failed her. She didn't know how to soothe him properly, what was a human custom in a circumstance such as this?

He was still blinking his eyes rapidly, they weren't focusing properly. He thought perhaps he had a concussion. That would make sense. He vaguely remembered his ship and flames… and wait, was that a shark's fin swimming menacingly in his memory?

The phantom hand ghosted over his forehead again, he grabbed at the hand with his own. Caressing the fingers he found there, he let the small smile that had been threatening to emerge since he woke up widen. He was strangely content.

The beach was completely perfect. It was silent and blissful, and Aaron never wanted to open his eyes. He'd decided that the woman in the sea was simply a figment of his sun-baked imagination. She was a guardian of some sort, and he didn't want her cooling presence to leave him here all alone on this beach. He sighed pleasurably.

Emily didn't want to ever leave his side. She wanted him to open his eyes, to really look at her, but he wouldn't. He'd tried but perhaps human eyes weren't as good as fish eyes or her own eyes?

She wasn't sure, and it wasn't something she, Reid and Garcia had even thought to discuss. How do you have that conversation with a gull, a flounder and a mermaid?

She wanted to talk to him some more. They'd only truly began to have a conversation last night, but then all those loud sounds had started and his companions had come running, and she'd had to leave. It was bad enough she'd let one human see her, she couldn't let a multitude see her too.

But she yearned to be near this man, this Aaron. She wondered if he even wanted her around. He hadn't seemed averse to chatting with her. But then perhaps he was merely being polite… He had hold of her hand and he was rubbing it softly. It felt wonderful. No one had EVER taken this kind of liberty with her before. She kind of liked it.

He brought her hand to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. It was a thank you; even if she wasn't real, he could still thank her for saving him…

JJ was a mess. She'd grown up with Aaron Hotchner. They were best friends. Their fathers ran a multinational business/company. If Kings and Queens still existed with any amount of political or financial pull in this world, their fathers were the Kings of not only their own country but probably a couple of third worlds too.

Sometimes she liked to think of herself as a princess, she knew it was silly and a little girlish, but Aaron truly was a prince, in every sense of the word except blood and birthright. And now his stupid ship has sunk.

Stupid sinking ship.

She'd begged him not to go, not to go and leave her behind with all the boring, rich friends of their fathers. She was a good number of years younger than Aaron, but he had never treated her unkindly for it, if anything he had always treated her as a treasured sister.

There was a very serious and costly search going on at the moment, ever since the mayday had gone out over the radio. JJ hadn't been allowed to join in. She was annoyed, but understood her father's sentiment. She got seasick.

A fat lot of use she'd be…

So she was trying to distract herself by trolling along the seashore, looking out for shells or something of interest to show Aaron when he returned. Because he _was_ returning. No doubt about that. She squinted in the bright morning sun, the light of the day causing her to see a mirage.

It certainly looked like there was a man lying out there on the beach gussied up for an arctic adventure. And a very skimpily dressed woman leaning wantonly over him.

Was that a fish's tail?

No, couldn't be. JJ shook her head, it was kind of a greenish-bluish blur; maybe it's a fast moving towel?

The woman with the fish tail/fast moving towel (I'm going insane) looked up and saw her. She darted (Do fish/towel women dart?) back into the crashing waves. JJ broke into a run. As she neared, coming closer and closer to the prone figure, she realized it was Aaron.

"Aaron!" She screamed, "Aaron!"

He heard JJ calling him. Why was she on his deserted island? Oh no, she'd scare his lovely, cool, caressing hands woman away. He pried open his eyes and saw that he was alone on the beach. A blonde woman running across the sand toward him.

He recognized this beach. It was near his father's beach house (read: mansion). And that would mean that the familiar looking woman calling his name and screaming into her mobile would actually be… JJ. His best friend.

She reached him in record time, pulling him clear out of the water, and crying with relief.

"We… thought…. Your ship… Aaron!" She cried, hugging him joyfully.

"Hey." He managed. Now that he was sitting upright, he peered out in the ocean, trying to catch a glimpse of the owner of the hand.

She was nowhere in sight.

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He didn't have a concussion, but the doctors were worried about exposure to the elements; especially considering he'd swam so far.

Had he?

Wasn't someone pulling him?

Only, he kept those thoughts to himself. Perhaps it really was just an act of his over-active imagination. But his imagination in the past had never been so… vivid.

He'd tried to tell JJ, but she seemed pre-occupied more with the fact that he had survived rather than this mysterious sea-woman he kept harping on about. And she seemed nervous too, as if she _had_ seen something, but was trying to deny it.

It didn't matter.

He was alive, and it was unlikely his father would ever allow them to own a boat again.

He was the sole heir-apparent to the spoils of business. His father could be valiantly over-protective when he thought his plans were being interfered with. It didn't matter to him that Aaron was more interested in anything other than the business world. It was a family business, and he better just get used to that fact.

His father was allowing him a little bit of lee-way in the years of his twenties, but he was going to be running out of those soon. He'd have to take on more and more responsibility, so that he could prove not only to his father but to his father's associates that he was more than competent to take over running the family business. Even if it was a hulking multinational corporation.

But he kept dreaming of the sea-woman. Scantily clad… oh how his imagination loved to fill in those details, changing with every dream; long hair, although his brain had yet to make up its mind on the color; cool, caressing hands, and her voice. He loved the sound of her voice.

It wasn't a clear twinkle like JJ's. It was smoother, a tiny bit rougher. But he liked that sound about all others. Another reason he was beginning to think she'd merely been a figment of his imagination, or worse… a hallucination; she was too good to be true. She was like his dream-girl, granted a little naïve about the world, and people in general. Their conversation had been enough to prove that to him, but the more he reflected on that singular conversation the more he liked it. The more he thought about how much fun it would be to showcase his world to her. Show her all the things he loved to do, all the little pieces of life that so many people often over-looked. And he wanted to know her perception of everything. He wanted to see her finger her lip in deep thought, toss her hair back over her shoulders, he wanted to be able to look into her eyes and see the color, not just look in the direction of her body and hope no cloud moved in front of the moon to obscure his view.

He sighed once more, trying to shake the image of the sea-woman savior from his mind.

JJ looked at him curiously. He'd been odd, ever since coming back from the sea. As if he'd left something or someone important behind in it.

But he wasn't talking.

Summer holidays were coming to end soon, and she was going to have to go back to college. But she didn't want to leave Aaron in this state. But he'd insisted. He was going to be fine. And when Aaron insisted, he really didn't leave you any choice.

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_Bonus point to those of you who can remember the real names of the characters I've pilfered ;)_

_This was so not the Disney movie I was going to do, but it just had too many great opportunities for character development. AND, it doesn't exactly follow the film's plot, but hey, I'm not setting back in the castles and horses era either._

_Arc  
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	2. Rule Number Two

_A little tweaking of the Disney storyline but seriously… would you trust two strange and creepy eels above your friends?_

_Well, perhaps you would. I don't really actually know any of you well enough to make that proclamation. But I know I wouldn't. Eels are creepy, and they bite. No seriously. They bite._

_Just go to the lake near me that houses a little amusement park. Inside this amusement park there is a lake and this little lake houses boats and canoes and kayaks and such, it also has eels. And they bite. I've never been bitten and I don't intend to. I never go swimming in that biting eel infested lake. No sir-ee. Not me._

_Hence my withdrawing Flotsam and Jetsam from this version; they bite, therefore they do not exist.

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**Rule Number Two: Witches of the Sea are Never a Good Idea**

Emily felt something for this man, this Aaron that she'd never felt before. And she wanted to follow it (him), to learn everything she could about it (him) and these _feelings_ she was experiencing.

But she'd never heard of anybody making it to the surface and actually being able to continue to stay above the water.

Only Garcia. But she was a bird. A sea-friendly creature, but a creature made to nest near the water and fly over it in the air.

She'd gone back to Garcia. Hoping against hope that she would know someone or something that she could go to, or see, or beg, or trade, so that she could obtain her dearest wish.

Garcia knew of someone… but she didn't want to talk about it. Like she knew it was going to be a mistake. But it wasn't really up to her, and Garcia knew it. She knew if I was determined enough, that I would find what I was looking for. After all hadn't I found her, when in all probabilities, I shouldn't have. A singular mermaid and her best fish friend travelling to the surface to find a seagull; didn't exactly have the earmark of an epic story.

Or even a wonderful adventure.

But we had found her, and solidified our friendship. She didn't even made jokes about gobbling Reid.

Garcia didn't want to tell me, but I wore her down.

It's a talent.

She told me about the Sea-Witch. A very powerful being, who understood sea-magic. She could help me. But it wouldn't be for free. She'd ask for something. It would be hard to get, and if I couldn't get it, then the Sea-Witch wouldn't help me.

Payment.

I needed to find something to pay her with; Garcia said it didn't work that way.

You didn't offer the Sea-Witch something. She told you what she wanted, and if you could get it, and give it to her, then you got what you asked for. If not, too bad. That's just how it worked.

I asked her if she'd ever asked for something.

Garcia had just sighed, knowingly, "No. I can't get to her. She lives under the sea, like you. She doesn't come out here and she certainly would never talk to a mere _bird_."

She told me how to find the Sea-Witch and I went to find her. Reid came too; he said he wasn't going to let me do anything stupid without being by my side. Even if he couldn't stop me from being stupid, he knew me too well.

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The Sea-Witch knew exactly what she wanted from the little mermaid, from King David's littlest princess.

She wanted her voice.

Every so often, the perfect opportunity presented itself. The Sea-Witch was a power-hungry woman… octopus. She had the beautiful fins of a dolphin, the electric neon colors of a jellyfish, the many layered teeth of a shark, the pearls from countless oysters (given freely and some not) and various other necessities and trinkets.

But she'd never taken someone's voice before.

She wanted to try it out.

But no one had taken the trade.

Until today.

The littlest mermaid was actually considering it. Strauss was delighted.

"I can only give you three days my darling." She said with a 'sad' whisper. It wasn't true, her magic could last much longer, but it was more fun with a limited time-frame. "And, you won't have your tail. It just wouldn't work up there. You'll have to have legs."

Emily gasped in shock and looked down toward her tail. Feet? What would that be like, what would that look like?

She tried to imagine it and couldn't. How would that work? How would she even possibly be able to use those little, sturdy, thick seaweed 'legs'? That just didn't make any sense… the having legs thing. She certainly understood why she couldn't keep her tail if she wanted to get to know the humans, Aaron in particular.

Emily shivered in the Sea-Witch's cave.

What was it her father always said about Sea-Witches?

Something about them being strong and wily; their many tentacles only contributing to that fact. She could even hear his patient voice telling her snippets of information - t_heir little suckers can easily pluck the pearls and shells from your neck and hair, darling. So quickly you don't even notice. Don't trust them. They understand the magic of the sea on a whole different level than other fish folk. Avoid them, sweetness, avoid them._

Thankfully though, she knew there weren't many of them left in her father's realm. King David had made sure of that, but for some reason he still tolerated Strauss, if anybody knew why, they weren't saying.

Emily eyed the black octopus. Knowing they were rare. Octopi were usually various shades of pink and red, sometimes blue but not black. However Strauss was unique… and dangerous, and above all she was extremely powerful. And Emily needed that power.

She made her decision. She would trade her voice for the chance to go above for three days, to try and see Aaron again. Strauss said that if at the end of three days, Aaron had kissed her, then she would get her voice back and the chance to stay up there with him forever. But if he hadn't kissed her by the end of three days… she'd be pulled back into the sea, voiceless, forever. There might have been some mention of servitude as well, but Emily was so preoccupied with the idea of kissing Aaron, the possibility that that might happen that she wasn't really listening.

The Sea Witch was sure Emily didn't notice that little addendum.

Strauss wasn't stupid, she had back-up plans, but this one was too good of an opportunity to discard. There was no way a voiceless, stupid female such as Emily could get a human man to kiss her in three days. The girl didn't even understand the most basics things about the humans. They ate fish. They fried squid, and – god, help them - if they ever came near Strauss with any of their heat and salt and whatever else they used in their evil arts.

Strauss turned back to the little Emily. Her eyes far-away, obviously thinking of this pitiful human she desired. Too easy.

"I'll do it." Emily said.

Strauss thought she heard a tiny gasp of shock. A fish gasp, a flounder-ing gasp. The mermaid's little fish friend Reid must be spying.

It didn't matter, she'd agreed.

No one could save her now.

Straus began the magic spell. Words of the ancient sea-monsters, strong and bendable, wielding their power for her own will. Out of the murky sea, small salt particles began to pull and mix, they reared and bucked, they danced with glee and authority, the Sea Witch's words drawing them in, giving them purpose.

The salt particles joined and melded themselves into a shell.

Emily stared in wondrous awe, it was beautiful.

Suddenly she felt a tugging at her throat. It didn't hurt exactly. It was scratchy and felt 'pulling', like a clump of coral mixed with reeds had somehow gotten lodged in there and was sliding up and down her throat. Scraping somewhere unpleasantly and then there was the pulling too. She knew she'd promised the Sea Witch her voice in exchange for the chance to go and live above the sea, but… she hadn't quite thought through what that would mean. Maybe she should have asked how Strauss intended to take her voice.

It didn't matter, as soon as she tried to talk, tried to ask Strauss just what exactly the spell was doing to her and to her voice, she couldn't talk.

She had no voice.

The transaction had been made.

A water-spout suddenly started to rise, twisting about her body, tugging and ripping at her tail. It felt strange, as if she were being pulled in two.

And she was.

Her green/blue tail shrunk and changed color. The tip of her tail sprouted feet, and legs and soon it was hard to breathe.

Strauss laughed, "Three days remember, Emily." She added, giving the mermaid one final, harsh look before waving her hands; pushing the water nearest to her out in one big eddy. It bounced around her body and lifted her higher and higher, until she popped out near the surface.

Reid raced after Emily still in shock over the power the Sea Witch wielded.

He'd hid behind one of the smaller rocks, being small and flounder-y had its advantages. He'd watched in surprise and more than a little terror as Emily confronted, and made a deal with, the Sea Witch.

She'd given up her _voice_. How would she ever interest the human man if she couldn't talk to him? The human would never know how funny she was, or how loving, compassionate, friendly and loyal. He'd only ever see her; they wouldn't be able to communicate! Reid shook his head in despair. Poor Emily, she was too excited over the opportunity to really think it through, what it meant, what the Sea Witch was trying to get out of it.

What if Aaron loved somebody else already?

He probably had tons of friends, and family, and other things to keep his interest. As wonderful as Reid thought Emily was, it had already been made abundantly clear that not everyone thought so. Her mermaid sisters thought she was the weird one, always interested in the above world and their artifacts, they didn't find that kind of stuff interesting. Nobody did.

Her father, King David, didn't approve either. He thought everyone should be doing things his way, obeying him and his ideas. But Reid gathered having been King for so long, why would you think about it any other way? Everyone already obeyed and feared him; he was known, admired and respected throughout all the seas. But he seemed to understand his daughter's affinity for the world above, or at least he tolerated it with a self-suffering air.

Not that Reid thought Emily noticed it.

She just seemed to miss the mark with her father; they couldn't ever seem to get on the same side of a conversation. Reid thought it was sad, because her father obviously only wanted what was best for her.

Emily unlike her other sisters, wasn't interested in the all the frivolous court sagas. Reid believed that King David was thankful for that. But didn't know how to tell her without alienating his other daughters; and he was always so busy. He probably though his daughters were taking care of each other, which they weren't. Emily was constantly on her own.

He raced after her weirdly shaped body. She really looked human now. Not that Reid had seen many females of the human variety, but he guessed Strauss wasn't the type to mess up a spell. At least, he hoped she wasn't. He didn't know too much about spells, that would be something to look into at a later date, but if Strauss was a Sea Witch – one of the only ones left – he was just going to have to trust that she knew what she was doing. Right?

He managed to catch up to Emily, but she seemed to be having trouble swimming. She looked completely frightened.

Thankfully, Garcia had been around. She'd been worried after giving Emily the information on how to find Strauss. Knowing what she did about the Sea Witch, she was restless. She was used to, also, not having friends to worry about. None of the other seagulls liked to hang around her because of her affiliation with the humans, and all things strange. But Reid and Emily were interested in the strange and weird too, and they respected her expertise.

She just wished that Emily hadn't asked that particular question. But she also wasn't a liar. She'd tried to explain just how dangerous Sea Witches could be; Emily was insistent though.

In the end, she'd relented; deciding that as long as Emily got her information from her, then perhaps, just perhaps, everything might turn out okay. But that had been a while ago, and she was starting to get worried.

Garcia had told Reid to follow Emily. To make sure that the Sea Witch didn't know he was watching, and to come get her to tell her exactly what the Sea Witch had demanded from Emily. When she hadn't heard back from him, she flew out to where she thought the Sea Witch's lair might be (where she had directed Emily and Reid).

She spent a long time just circling in the air.

Waiting, hoping, praying.

Finally, Emily popped out, and Reid was right beside her.

She was having trouble floating.

She'd made the deal, Garcia suddenly realized.

And that probably meant she had legs. So she wouldn't be able to swim.

Garcia swooped down quickly, latching onto Emily's arms and tugging her toward the shore. Reid was pushing her from behind as well. It was hard work, but thankfully they weren't that far from land.

When they made it to the curling waves, Reid dropped back; he certainly didn't want to get beached. And as much as he had come to trust Garcia, he wasn't sure he wanted her _help_ getting back into the sea.

Sure you could resist a wonderful aroma for a while, but when that wonderful taste was wriggling around in your mouth or beak – not so much. He didn't want to tempt fate. Friend or food, you could only be one.

*

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*

Aaron could not get the sea-woman out of his mind. He was trying too. He was trying so hard to forget her.

Even if she existed (and that was a pretty big if –given that he'd been 'lost at sea' and couldn't remember swimming that vast distance to the shore) she was a sea-creature or something. She was never going to be able to live with him on the land, unless he devised some salt-water swimming pool deal. And merely the fact that was showed how completely obsessed he was becoming. He was not in some movie called _Splash_. How would they spend their lives together, as his imagination was fond of imagining; a future, a life together, a family. Things like that just didn't happen. There were no fairytale endings, no matter how much JJ liked to think there were.

Aaron sighed; time to get out of the mansion.

He'd contemplated going back out onto the ocean in an effort to find the woman. But his father had docked all of their boats, and bribed the various boat-hire companies into refusing Aaron's trade. He was stuck on land.

There was no way he'd ever be able to find the woman.

He knew it was a manifestation of his father's love that was bringing the situation about, but he just couldn't forget about _her._

He'd never been this way about a female before.

He'd revel in the feelings if it weren't so depressing. He was never going to see her again, and he was starting to wish that his mind would just accept the fact so he could move on. Try to find something else, anything else to occupy his mind. It didn't have to be another person, hell, even if it were just some boy-ish type of infatuation with a video-game that would be enough.

Only nothing was taking his fancy, nothing was taking his interest away from _her._

Damn-it!!!

He got up off his couch, and went outside. Maybe a walk along the beach would be beneficial. At least if he submersed himself in the sun and the sand, it might take his mind of other things, and if it didn't at least he'd feel closer to – don't even think it! He scolded himself; you're supposed to be trying to get over her, not trying to think about her more.

He shook his head once more, and broke out into a jog. A little exercise never hurt anyone.

He'd been jogging for about fifteen minutes when he heard the shrill squawking of a gull, and looked in astonishment to see a large, white seagull flapping around an unconscious body; half in the shoals.

"Shoo!" He cried, bolting over to the figure, and waving his arms at the intrusive gull, "get lost! There's no food for you here!"

He bent quickly by the figure, and realized it was a _very_ scantily clad woman. Quickly checking her over he noticed she wasn't hurt except for a few scratch marks he just knew had come from the interfering seagull. He pealed the shirt from his body, yanking it quickly over his head and covering her body with some sense of modesty; trying hard not to expel the image of her in the forefront of his brain.

The gull had moved some distance away but seemed to be waiting patiently, as if it were her protector. He scrunched up his forehead at the absurdity of his thoughts lately; wild animals did not 'protect' anything other than their lunch or their young. And this woman was certainly not about to become a seagull's anything.

He picked her up carefully, and began the trek home; being extremely careful that he didn't jostle her unnecessarily. Her head was lolling slightly, so he curled her into himself protectively. She was slightly too cool, but he was attributing that to having been in the ocean for an indeterminate amount of time.

As he walked back to his father's house, he pondered the probabilities of two lost-at-sea survivors beaching themselves on the same stretch of shore only days apart. He wondered if she had lost her vessel in the same manner as he had. Then he dismissed the idea; that was even more ludicrous.

But she had to have come from somewhere. Even if he could believe she was simply a homeless waif, she would have had clothes, or at least a swimsuit. Nobody walked around (pretty much) buck-naked on a non-nudist beach, especially this time of the day. And, as much as he'd like to think it was as simple as that, why was she alone?

Didn't she realize how dangerous it was to swim by herself? This particular beach wasn't guarded, if she got caught in a rip, that would basically be the end of her… nobody would ever know.

So the question remained; who was she, why was she here, alone and clothe-less, getting accosted by seagulls?

Finally, he made it back to his house. Stumbling a little up the backyard's path, he tightened his hold on the mysterious, practically nude woman. Thankfully, his shirt still kept her dignity intact. Not that he was expecting any visitors, but he also never knew when JJ might pop in.

She had a tendency to treat his property like her own.

Must be a girl thing.

He thought about putting the woman on the couch, then she wouldn't feel so out of place when she woke up. Imagining her reaction to waking up in his bed, or any other bed in the house wasn't a pleasant thought. He certainly didn't want to be accused of anything untoward. But he also didn't want her to be uncomfortable and the couch wasn't exactly the best place for a partially naked woman to recline.

He sighed. Bedroom it is.

He'd just have to make sure he didn't leave her alone long enough to freak out when she woke up. He'd done some cursory, and purely medicinal, checking over when he'd found her. She wasn't hurt drastically in any way. Merely unconscious.

He carefully tended to the scratches on her shoulder. If it was the seagull that scratched her, then he didn't want her to get rabies or some other animal type infection, and if she'd scratched herself on something in the sea he didn't want her to get a Staph infection. Best to just walk on the safe side in this instance.

Hopefully when she woke up everything could be worked out and there would be a very simple answer, and he could send her (in a cab or something) on her way home.

He was expecting JJ for dinner sometime today and he kind of didn't want to have to explain the presence of the mysterious, yet beautiful woman.

In his bed.

*

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*

Reid and Garcia were beside themselves.

Random human man had just stolen Emily!!!

"Oh dear me, oh dear, oh dear! No, no, no…" Garcia called as she swooped and flapped in despair.

"This is bad." Reid continued to say, mantra-like.

"Have you even seen the human man that she came here for?" Garcia asked.

"No. I thought she told you what he looked like?" Reid answered, perplexedly. Isn't that what females did, told each other all the gory, gooey, lovey feelings in nauseating detail?

"Oh no, oh no, oh no…"

"Okay, calm down." Reid said, "We just need to think about this logically. Emily will figure something out. We'll help her."

"How can we help?" Garcia screeched in reply, "she can't talk! She has no tail! She has legs! No one knows her, who knows what these humans will do?"

"I thought you said most humans were harmless." Reid answered with a tinge of fear.

"I did! Most of them are harmless, but some of them aren't. They're mostly harmless!" She added with a squawk.

"What do we do?" Reid asked almost silently.

"You'll have to tell her father." Garcia said softly.

"I can't do that!" He replied indignantly.

"You'll have to… she needs back-up!" Garcia repeated.

"You be her back-up!"

"I'm a bird! Not a bodyguard, we gulls are not tame-able."

"Well, I'm a flounder! I can't even get anywhere near her right now. It's up to you!" he added in frustration.

"Nope, that won't work. You don't understand the humans. I won't be able to get near them. They're going to notice a bizarre, yet freakishly attractive, seagull spying on them. Humans are strange that way."

"Well, what else can I do?" Reid asked.

"Find someone that can be on both sea and land. It's our only hope. Preferably, someone who's kick-ass tough. They'll have to be to get into that house."

While they'd been wallowing in their despair and wailing with mournful sounds, they had also had the fore-sight to follow the human man carrying Emily. They were now near the beach, watching him walk Emily up into his house.

That's when Reid thought of Morgan. King David's second-in-command, of security anyway. But if he told Morgan, he'd have to tell King David too… unless…

Reid would need to be sneaky.

Reid didn't know if he could do sneaky.

He could do smart, and fishy, but could he be sneaky?

It would be a test of his loyalty and friendship. He'd have to succeed.

He was Emily's last hope of help.

* * *

_I so rock the secret treasure hunt quote game (that I just added then). It'll be glaringly obvious for Sienna27… see if you can find it ;)_

_Also, I'm taking Emily and Dave's relationship from the beginning of their on-screen friendship, so you all remember the awkward? 'think canon'._

_Arc  
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	3. Rule Number Three

_The quote from the previous chapter was from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was about earth being 'Mostly Harmless' as cited by Ford Prefect. Of course, that was not its context in this fic. In here Garcia was talking about the humans above-the-sea, which does make a certain paralleled sense ;)_

_Also, the Christmas season really ran away from me, I didn't even realize it had been this long, so apologies.  
_

**Rule Number Three: Not Talking is Sometimes a Blessing (aka Silence can be Golden)**

The sleeping woman still slept on. Aaron was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had a concussion, or was waterlogged. But he definitely did not want to bring a doctor, nurse or medical professional into the mix. They would have to document their time and resources and then the story would somehow inexplicably get back to his father, and then all hell would break loose, and before you could even begin to breathe properly lil' sis JJ would be pounding on his door wanting to see this newest attraction as Casa Aaron Hotchner.

JJ was nothing if not nosey, and hard-nosed. She was probably going to become a world-class reporter one day.

Aaron periodically checked in on her, Sleeping Beauty as it were. After a few hours he had decided sitting motionlessly on a chair within the bedroom aside a sleeping (possibly totally naked) woman was chalking up too much stalker tendency on the blackboard of inappropriate behaviors. He left the room to procure some lunch.

As he got out the bread, butter, spreads and other miscellaneous items he gazed out of the large windows and watched the silent waves crash upon the beach. There was a collection of seagulls a short way away, they were eerily stationary, and he wasn't afraid or ashamed to admit that it was more than a little scary.

He watched them while he munched on his sandwich, hoping that the woman would wake soon. He felt an attachment to her, so much so that his usual clear thinking and logical characteristics were not coming into play. He was becoming glaringly over-protective of her. It wasn't normal, and he had no understandable reason for why this should be so.

*

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After she had finally convinced Reid to go to Morgan; the little (yet commanding) crab guard of the Royal Palace's troops, Garcia had taken to calling in some favors. Early on she had realized that Emily had a penchant for getting into trouble. Something Reid had wholeheartedly agreed with, while Garcia was known around the shores as an odd bird, she was also well-liked by individuals within the gull community.

And luckily for her, all of her 'individual' friends seemed to be something of an influencer in their own friendship circles. Which worked out very well for her, she'd decided in the few scant minutes upon Reid's exit that she needed a back-up plan for surveilling Emily.

A lone seagull, no matter how awesome, and a fishy flounder, with the possibility of an extra small crab could not maintain the necessary field expertise to competently watch Emily; especially since Emily was currently in a human house.

With a human.

Did she mention the humanness of her problem?

So, she'd called out to a near flying gull, Sparky – she'd thought upon first inspection, but it turned out to be someone else entirely. A someone she had never particularly gotten along with; he could never understand the fact that she was inherently smarter than he. Arrogant bird. But she'd delivered him with her request, a sort of demand really. One that no bird could deny. She wasn't sure how long the message would take to get to his friend (her friend also) but it would have to get there eventually.

By some weird stroke of good luck Idiot-bird-brain actually passed along the message promptly; and to practically every sea and air creature he came into contact with, they'd all received the same garbled message.

They arrived by the droves; congregating on sand a few meters from the human's house, the despicable human who had stolen Emily.

Apparently Idiot-bird had given everyone he'd come into contact with the impression that she had some terrible news of import. Like there was a dying beached whale on the sand upon whom they could feed, if seagulls fed on whales that is… she knew so much that sometimes she started crossing animal species, even if she was referring to herself.

Reid would know. If she remembered when he got back she'd ask him about it.

Tickles greeted her first, but then again he always was the most courteous.

Shady, Trouble, Pickings and Dodge soon chorused their greetings, and then the squawking began. Everybody clamoring for information about this beached whale.

She sadly informed them that they had been misled.

Idiot-brain would get his comeuppance soon enough. But later, she had more pressing things to do right now, mainly get all of her friends to help her out.

She didn't go into specifics, not too many anyway.

She had to be careful about what she said, sometimes when she got excited her mouth ran away from her and all sorts of interesting tidbits fell out.

Thankfully, her gull friends were interested in the premise. They had nothing better to do anyway.

The main thing Garcia now needed to work on was keeping Reid away from her friends. They were not as fish friendly as she was.

She could curb her enthusiasms for food sources, but not them, no impulse control.

So, Step One: set up Emily Watch.

Step Two: Create workable roster.

Tickles while great has a low attention span, best to set him in tandem with Pickings. Shady and Dodge will not work well together, too alike, they'll side-track each other will relative ease. Trouble should only ever work alone, he's too much trouble.

Step Three: Play keep away with Reid, and Morgan, if Reid is successful in his quest.

Step Four: Pray to all those who are holy that King David doesn't find out what's happening with Emily.

If they managed to do everything successfully; maintain her plan, keep her friends in line, play keep away with Reid and King David remained in the dark, everything might turn out okay. Well, as limited as an okay could be where Emily might lose her voice for all eternity and unknown other badness would occur if she couldn't find this human man, let alone get him to kiss her within three days.

Two and a half now.

She's already accomplished Step One. And she'd quickly devised a preliminary Step Two.

Step Three was yet to come into effect seeing as Reid had not returned, so the addition of Morgan was unknown, and Step Four was pretty much a constant.

"Why are we watching these humans again?" Tickles asked, while she loved him like the brother she never wanted, Garcia was certainly aware that he wasn't the brightest krill in the ocean.

"Because I asked you to, that's all the reason you need." She replied, sternly, making sure that all the other gulls understood. This was them paying her back for favors, or acquiring favors. They didn't need to understand why they were doing this only that they were. That they were doing this for her, because she'd asked and they loved her.

And with most things Garcia, she commanded their attention and held it unequivocally. She was the best bird out there, she wasn't being proud or arrogant, it just was. Like Reid being the smartest fish, and Emily being the nicest, and humans being mostly harmless. Some things in life just were; the sea was cold, the deep was dark (and deep), fish (who weren't your friends) were food, humans tossed yummy square shaped mushy food stuff at you and everyone knew to listen to Garcia… once they got past her unusual countenance.

She smiled to herself, if Reid did his job, maybe everything would work out okay. Even if it didn't, this was certainly going to be one of the most exciting adventures she'd been involved in for a long time.

Garcia told Trouble to being the first watch of the human's house. Emily had been taken in through those 'doors', the see-through things that while you can _see_ through them you can't actually _go_ through them. Many a countless bird had tried, and failed, apparently only humans knew their magical secrets. One humans knew how to work their strangeness and allow themselves to pass through their magic shells. Perhaps it was like a turtle's shell, only that particular turtle knew how to withdraw and hide beneath its safe exterior?

*

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*

It had taken Reid some time to find Morgan and the army of King David.

Thankfully, as he had feared the complete opposite, Morgan was nowhere near nor anywhere close to the vicinity of King David or his palace. But unfortunately, Morgan was in the middle of drills and practices. Since he was in charge of the elite forces of the troops, it only made sense that he would need to maintain the troops' competency.

Reid knew that wherever they were, they would be a large bunch of miscellaneous fish folk circling the crustacean. He only had to find them.

It had taken a few more hard thinking moments for Reid to figure out where Morgan may have taken the troops for that kind of duty.

Two false starts later, he found them…

They were situated at the edge of a great chasm, a tiny red crab about the size of Reid's fin-tail was yelling at some octopi and whales, there were gaggles of silver fish doing strange and funky dance moves (he had the fleeting thought that Garcia would approve) and a few manatee and dugong, the others were swishing slowly in a file obeying every command that came their way. There was one particularly old whale – a cousin descended from Moby Dick if Reid remembered correctly – who was repeating the yells down the wall of the dark chasm.

Reid pondered why he would be doing that, as if on cue a response came from the dark hole.

"_You do realize that these maneuvers pertain only to those of the light?" _

It was a cephalopod.

A giant see-through, but sort of white, squid, well if would have been if Reid could have actually seen the beast. Cephalopods were known around every part of the ocean but they were rarely seen. You could tell when you had crossed one's path though, mainly because of the sticky nature of their voices, and sometimes there would be a tell-tale trail of dark ink. They mostly used their ink as a defense mechanism, but sometimes they'd let a little out just to mark their territory, kind of like a 'beware of squid' sign.

Cephalopods were creatures of the deeper deep, where even fish folk couldn't see. Reid never ventured down there, but he was glad to finally know how King David talked to his emissaries that lived below the light line.

Reid almost snorted; there was little reason for Cousin Moby to repeat the cephalopods loud question. Besides the look of fury emanating from Morgan was entirely too dangerous looking. He didn't want to get caught in that rip.

"Tell him I don't care what it looks like, I want them to practice working in unison. That's what this drill is about." His voice was coming out choppy, and stilted. Very business-like, Reid thought it was probably some security forces class you had to take to pass your captaincy.

Morgan probably came out first, the best ever.

He seemed like the kind of crab to be a perfectionist like that. If perfectionist was the right word for what he was.

It was a strange realization that Morgan's voice, while unusually loud for a crab, could not penetrate the darkness of the chasm. Hence Cousin Moby's repetitive yells. He certainly had a set of lungs on him.

"Commander Morgan doesn't care what it looks like. Follow Orders!" Moby editorialized.

"_Agreed," _the cephalopod replied after a few moments of tense silence.

"_However, since we cannot actually see one another down here, may I alter some of the positions so that out innate talents work better for this drill?" _The giant squid finally asked.

"FINE!" Morgan exclaimed.

"That's fine." Moby repeated.

"_Most obliged_.

Reid tried to figure out a way to get to Morgan without the whole pod of fish realizing.

He didn't think it was going to happen.

Eventually Reid realized he was just going to have to take a mark from Emily's guide book. He was just going to have to do this headfirst and merely hope everything worked out okay.

He swam out from behind the rubble he was hiding behind. He didn't think that anyone had noticed him yet, or if they had they certainly weren't paying him any attention.

He managed to swerve in between some of the larger fish, ducking and weaving his way through the smaller fish and almost bumping into one of the whales. But he made it.

He was pushed out in a gust of water in front of an irate looking crab.

Whoops.

Probably not the best idea to get Morgan angry before you've even told him the 'real' problem.

"Hi Mor-m-Sir! Sorry to interrupt your training schedule… but I'm afraid I have some bad news…" Reid knew he was stuttering and not entirely making sense but he couldn't help it.

"What are you trying to say, little fish?" Morgan inquired.

Reid gulped. How was it that someone much smaller than him was intimidating him this badly? Reid towered over the crab, yet he was definitely scared for his life.

"Um, sir? Could we please take this conversation to a quieter place?" He asked, as politely as he could.

Morgan looked at him intently; wondering if this little frenetic fish could have anything important to tell him. He was an important person after all. But the fish had just gotten through one of his devised supposedly impenetrable configurations. He was interested to know if that feat had just been blind luck or something more.

Morgan nodded his head finally, motioning for the fish to go a short distance away, just enough so that he could still keep an eye on his troops. They were known to be slightly lazy.

After Morgan motioned for them to stop, Reid's nerves started playing up again, he hadn't thought out too much of what he was going to say. Or how he was going to explain what had happened.

In the end, he decided he should just get it over with and hope for the best. Perhaps Morgan would understand his and Garcia's reasons for not informing King David immediately, even if they could have figured out a way to get close to the King. Well, it would have only been him; Garcia couldn't go further than the surface shoals under the sea. She was a bird after all.

"How did you do that?" Morgan began.

"Do what?" Reid asked, a little confused.

"How did you figure out how to get through the school of fish to talk to me?"

"I don't know. I just needed to get to the other side, so I did." Reid was puzzled; it hadn't seemed that hard at all, should it have been?

"That was one of the hardest configurations King David's army has devised, yet you got through the defenses as easily as crossing through the open sea."

Reid gulped again, that seemed to be a common occurrence around Morgan.

"I guess, I didn't think about it. I just did it. I could do it again and you could watch me next time. I suppose it was just timing. And I had been watching you for a few minutes, working up the courage to come and talk to you. Which reminds me, I really do need to talk to you about something vitally important."

Morgan was tired after that deluge. Did this fish not need to stop for gill reasons?

"What's your name?" He finally asked.

"Reid. I'm Reid. I'm Princess Emily's friend."

Ah, now it was apparent. Morgan finally placed this little fish. He knew the flounder looked familiar, now it was obvious. Emily was the quietest and most respectful princess, but she was also the most eccentric. Even though he didn't have much to do with the princess he knew he liked her. She was friendly.

"What's so important then, Reid?"

"She'd kind of, in trouble… sort of, just a little." Reid cringed, waiting for the explosion of Morgan-rage.

It never came.

"What kind of trouble?" He asked, voice extremely low.

Warily Reid replied, "don't freak out."

"Oh, I'm going to freak out if you don't start talking, right now."

"Okay well, a couple of days ago Emily saved this man, and she kinda, sort of, fell in love with him or something. And then she heard about The Sea Witch, and thought that maybe, perhaps, she could help her out with getting in touch with him or something. And I seriously told her it was a bad idea, but you know how she can be, well, perhaps you don't but take it from me, she can be very tenacious. So, she went to The Sea Witch, and she traded her voice for the opportunity. But she's only got three days up there, three days to get him to fall for her and for him to kiss her, and we don't even know if she's in the right place yet. And she has legs! But since I'm a fish I can't get close to the human's house. I didn't know what to do and I can't betray Emily's trust, but I knew we needed help. So I thought of you…"

It certainly seemed like he hadn't taken a breath, Morgan thought.

He sorted through Reid's babbling.

Not only had Emily decided she was in love with a human, but she had gone to a sea witch to rectify the situation. No she had no voice, had acquired legs, was currently in a human's house and was alone.

King David could not find out about this, but he did need to tell the big guy something.

"Sandworm," he called. Immediately a curvature appeared within the bed of the sea. A stingray appeared and somehow seemed to salute Morgan.

Reid was surprised, but figured this was some kind of troop nickname thing, another quirk of social relationships that he still hadn't got his head around.

"Inform the King that I will be doing some long range reconnaissance." Sandworm flicked his tail in agreement, before departing.

"That should take care of King David for a day or so. Let's hope that we can get Emily back before I have to tell him I aided you in this endeavor." Morgan was stern, but slightly appreciative of the chance to go up-world. He hadn't in such a long time. He didn't like bureaucracy or administrative endeavors, and that's all he seemed to be doing lately. Not that he wasn't grateful for the trust that the big guy was placing in him, but sometimes he just wanted to be that hard core rogue crab who worked he was diligently through the ranks of the palace troops, surprising everyone with his determination and skill.

* * *

_Ach... sorry if there were lots of typos in this._

_I do try to catch them all, but there's only so many times you can read through something and still actually see it as it is._

_Arc.  
_


	4. Rule Number Four

_Sorry guys, I can't even try to apologise for the lateness of this update. For all of you who actually still remember this fic that is!_

_Hopes this makes up for any pining...

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_

**Rule Number Four: A Tail-less Mermaid is the least of your problems.**

She woke to bright light dimmed by thick shade.

Odd, she thought, but made no immediate movement.

She breathed in, and realized something was very wrong.

_First things first Emily, where are you?_

Emily stilled her frantic need to swim away, and took stock of her surroundings. She was in a very strange box. There were holes leading to the outside, and two great big square-ish holes too, but they did not lead to the outside. One square-ish shape led to another box – but more rectangular in shape and the other led to a very small (width-wise not length-wise), very dark box, with lots of fabric hanging off silver scepters place sideways. There were also many shelves adorned with folded fabric too.

She knew what fabric was from Garcia's many information sessions, and sometimes fabric was found floating in the water, but never in its original form. Not unless those from above wore tattered fabric. But this was different, she knew instinctively that something very big and very important had occurred, and she must have missed it.

She usually missed things. Like the time there was a great ship sinking to the bottom of the sea-bed. She'd missed that. Emily and Reid had been floundering in lagoon near Hawaii at the time. It was one of her first trips away from home without a legion of guards protecting her. Just her and Reid, and she was pretty sure Morgan, her father's second-in-command had been following along behind, keeping watch. But she could never prove that. The ship had sunk, and it had seemed like the entire under-water city had watched. It was a big event.

But she had missed it.

She had come home, and all of the gossip (not that she usually listened to gossip but sometimes the stories were interesting and relevant rather than controversial and obtuse) had been about the great ship. And by that time she wasn't even allowed to go close to see the human/above world ship. She was denied access. Not that she tried to use her princess-dom to infiltrate the area, but still … she always missed the interesting things.

Apparently though, not this time.

This time she was the event.

She heard a strange shuffling sound from outside of her box.

The covering of the square-ish shape swung open gently, and mass of dark hair poked around the corner.

She stifled a gasp.

No one would dare intrude on the dwelling place of a princess. But then suddenly, she remembered.

She wasn't exactly a princess anymore. Well, she was of course, still her father's daughter, and him being a King meant she was still a princess but she had given her voice in exchange for legs. To find the man on the ship, the man on the beach, and to try to kiss him. Actually, now that she thought about it the addendum had meant that _he_ had to kiss _her_. Not the other way around.

Now that she realizes about that; Emily understands what her father meant about sea-witches being wily, Strauss more so than any other. Emily has never been kissed, and she had also never tried to kiss anyone before. She wasn't even sure of the protocol for kissing princesses, let alone the protocol for kissing humans … ah the protocol for other people trying to kiss princesses, not her trying to kiss other princesses. Or even the protocol for humans kissing humans. Was there protocol for that? Some rules that might make the interactions/requests easier?

Wait, what if her ship-man, her beach-man, her Aaron(-man) was already kissing somebody else?

What if he wasn't interested in her as much as she was in him?

What if all those nights in the sea, their conversations, what if those were all just him being pleasantly conversant?

What if she'd thrown away her voice, and her tail, and given so much power over to the Sea-Witch for absolutely nothing?

She didn't know anything about this man.

She didn't even know where she was anymore.

Where was Reid?

Where was Garcia?

Her Father didn't know where she was because she had known that he would try to stop her from doing this! Fear and distance clawed at her throat. How far away from her family and friends was she?

Would she ever be able to see them again?

What about what Strauss (the Sea-Witch) had demanded from her if she failed?

How would her Father (King David) react to her choices, her actions?

And with that final thought, she burst into tears.

Aaron was very surprised when he went into naked-girl's room to check on her.

Thankfully when JJ had come over the previous night she had not taken her usual routine of charging through the house looking into every room for him. She had waited patiently at the front door, probably as spooked by the odd collection of seagulls circling the house at alarmingly regular times as he was.

They had had a quiet dinner together, with JJ babbling mostly about what courses she planned to take during college, and eliciting his opinions on her career directions. She didn't push too much, which was very unusual for JJ but he only attributed that to her relief at having him home and safe; even if she did every so often raise her eyebrows at his every start to odd noises.

He kept expecting naked-sleeping-girl to come down the stairs at any moment crying kidnap and trying to kill him with a baseball bat or skillet. Although how she would have found either of those items in the spare bedroom was a mystery he wasn't willing to look into.

But she didn't.

The sleeping brunette remained asleep.

JJ, to his surprise, remained downstairs.

And neither lady was the wiser.

Although perhaps the gulls congregating outside would have thought some interesting things about his house happenings.

… And since when did he think that animals had animated sentient thoughts, or if they did - cared about his life?

So, Aaron had gone to sleep and hoped that his sleeping guest would not wake 'til morning.

Which is why when he went to check on her, found her awake, and crying in the bed he didn't think, merely acted.

Which is also how, unbeknownst to either of the two participants, he had somehow managed to become wrapped up in a naked women who was wearing only his shirt (from the previous day's wear) caressing her bed-head hair and soothing her sobs with soft murmurings.

She smelled like the sea. Warm breezes, cool water, salty sea and something indefinable. Something else.

Slowly her sobs began to cease. The hands clenching his back and twisting in his pajama top (thankfully he had remembered to pull it on when he left his bed that morning) released their tense grip.

"Hey," he whispered in greeting, "my name's Aaron."

He waited for a response but none came.

The woman, who was still cradled in his arms, wouldn't look at him. But she didn't seem to be terrified so he kept talking.

"I found you unconscious on the beach yesterday. I brought you back to my house …" He suddenly realised that this woman would probably have expected to wake up in a hospital after whatever traumatic event had occurred for her to be found unconscious on a beach. He didn't have an answer for not doing the right thing. He hadn't wanted anyone else to know about her. He had wanted to keep her for himself. And that was an urge he definitely didn't understand and didn't want to explore further right now.

She opened her mouth to respond. Probably to ask a question of him. But no sound came out.

She instinctively grabbed at her throat.

"Can you talk?" Aaron asked quickly.

Mystery woman shook her head. Her eyes filled with left-over tears and a slight quaver of fear.

"It's okay. It's okay, I'm going to take care of you. I promise." He leant forward suddenly and kissed her forehead.

Emily's heart sang when he did. But she knew that that kiss did not count. Strauss had certainly meant a _real_ kiss.

Just as she was trying to figure out how to ask Aaron for some food, her stomach growled.

They both looked down slightly surprised.

Aaron because he should have thought of that basic need earlier; and Emily because she'd never not had food on a regular basis. Unless she forgot but she was rarely hungry; perhaps the spell Strauss had cast was changing things within her body. Other than loss of voice and loss of tail.

"Come on. Let's go downstairs and we'll get some breakfast. Well, more like afternoon tea, considering the time…"

Emily tried, she really did but … legs are weird!

How do they work?

The whole thing just did not make any kind of natural sense. Firstly, they were all these extra parts to legs that meant there were lots of extra flopping and pressure and strength she wasn't sure she knew how to use.

Secondly, instead of there being just one kind of fishy-tail spine going from the rear-end quadrant to the tips of her fins, there were now two spines, in a sense, that had lots of interconnecting and weirdly shaped bone-y bits protruding all over the place.

Thirdly, instead of a fluid and beautiful sheen to her mermaid's tail, there was now a sandy colored covering, which was really boring AND there were all these extra joints, like a crab's – not to dismiss Morgan or any other crab-like creature, lobster, etc, but after spending your entire life one way, having to learn another in so little time was rather inconceivable.

So was it any wonder that when she and Aaron tried to disembark from the sleeping area, she immediately fell down?

Without the soft, cushion-y pressure of sea-water to float down sympathetically and gently on?

It actually hurt!

Aaron was surprised when the Mystery woman abruptly fell. And then he felt like kicking himself in the head.

She was probably suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.

It wasn't totally out of the ordinary for her to lose bodily function while she recuperated. Was it?

Aaron found he didn't much care for Mystery Woman getting better. He did like the feel of carrying her about the house, allowing him extra time to smell her (which yes he did know was slightly creepy) and hold her, and really just be close to her.

He had immediately helped her off the floor, and then picked her up, much like when he found her on the beach, and carried her downstairs to the kitchen.

He settled her in one of the more comfortable chairs, the ones he preferred at least, and proceeded to prepare breakfast.

She watched him without concern or fear, and Aaron decided this was probably one of the most interesting and relaxed mornings he'd ever had after waking up in his house to a strange, and unknown, woman.

Including the morning he woke up on the beach with his imaginary, scantily-clad, sea-woman. Or as JJ had commented last night during dinner the towel-clad darting woman; he had been unbelievably relieved. He'd thought he truly was going insane. He'd, of course, couched his serious concerns in lighthearted jokes and JJ had been none the wiser to his truly worried mental state. JJ had mentioned her fleeting vision and that left him with the intangible feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, there really had been a woman waiting with him in the shoals. The slowly lapping waves stroking her, and his, legs.

Of course, JJ had mentioned the woman in whole-hearted glee, with a dash of tipsy not the complete seriousness he attributed sea-woman's existence with...

He had begun to regret breaking out the bottle of pinot noir to go with their dinner. Aaron knew JJ was still slightly too young, for American laws, but he was so used to the changing laws of various countries that he'd decided she could handle two glasses with food over three hours. Apparently, she couldn't.

He'd ordered/asked one of his father's many drivers/personal assistants to driver her home. He'd made sure Neal was one of the five employees in long-standing and committed relationships first. He did not need anything untoward happening to his little 'sister' with another woman under his wing, in his home, under his protection.

However, his brain was still trying to come up with an appropriate explanation for how a mystery woman came to be residing in his bed.

Sans her own clothes.

One of his beds, not _his_ bed obviously…

Emily watched Aaron flitting about the kitchen, lighting fire with a clicking sound, and grabbing items out of a large, rectangular box that whooshed with cool air. She'd never seen anything like it and was beginning to think that Garcia didn't know as much about humans as she thought she did.

Sweet smells began to permeate the kitchen area, and her stomach growled once more. Letting both Aaron and herself know that it was demanding sustenance.

"Almost there." Aaron smiled.

She returned the smile shyly. She found that the quieter aspects of her personality were coming out in full force without the use of her voice.

It would be so much easier if she could only talk to him.

Which was probably Strauss' intention, now that she had the time to think about it.

She probably shouldn't have accepted the trade so quickly. But there wasn't time to worry about that now.

She had more pressing things to think about. Food for one, and Aaron for two.

He plonked the plate down with an air of satisfaction. It was a sturdy plate and a sturdy table, so nothing rattled too atrociously.

Emily enjoyed the look of the food and the smells, but she waited for Aaron to start eating first. Just in case the tools she thought she was supposed to use were actually the ones she was supposed to use. There wasn't too much of a surprise for which she was extremely grateful.

For his part, Aaron kept starting to ask her questions about herself, her life and where she came from. But every time he began he quickly remembered that she couldn't talk. She could barely walk. But she had a peaceful air about her, and for some odd reason he felt as if he knew her.

Emily liked that he was trying to have a conversation with her even if she couldn't answer. Perhaps they just needed to work on some short hand facial expressions. That could work, right?

She lifted an eyebrow at another one of his false starts.

He seemed pleasantly surprised at her response, so he continued asking the question, "I was… I just wanted to know what I should call you."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She had hoped that he would remember who she was, but then, she'd never told him her name. They were just getting to the name exchange part of their conversation when his ship had become ablaze. He had given his name, but she hadn't returned the favor.

Emily tried to say her name, but lip reading didn't seem to be a specialty of Aaron's.

"Huh, maybe I should go for yes or no answer questions?" He smiled when he said it, and Emily could practically hear the smile in the timbre of his voice.

She smiled in response, her head dropping down automatically.

"Well, you certainly are a mystery." He added.

To stop herself from attempting to talk again, Emily fed herself another mouthful of food.

Aaron copied her movement and made a mental note to give her the proper tour of his place after breakfast. Hopefully feeling in her legs would return by then.

Reid and Morgan eventually made their way to the beach. The very last place Reid had seen Emily. Although Reid was talented in many areas, he was having some trouble locating the human's house. They all looked the same! The houses, that is, not the humans.

Although more often than not the humans looked pretty similar most of the time too.

Reid started hyperventilating, he'd done his job. He'd found Morgan, the second-in-command, kept the secret from King David, and managed to get them back to the human's beach within record time… and now he'd lost the human's house!

"Flounder." Morgan interrupted the first stages of hysteria, "I think the human male's house is that way."

A small, red, crab-claw pointed toward a rather large construction where an aerial swoop of a seagull was spinning lazily around the roof.

"Huh…" Reid answered.

It had to be Garcia and her troop of slightly eccentric friends.

They paddled up the beach, dodging humans splashing about in the cresting waves and various other land animals. Eventually and with great care Morgan, the crab, and Reid, the flounder, made their way to the human's house, where Garcia had stationed herself atop a giant flattened rock. It was her Fortress of Magnitude.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed when Morgan's arrival caused sea water to burst from its salty place and flick against her wing.

She'd forgotten that the stories surrounding Second-In-Command Crab Morgan were only exaggerated in regards to his actual size.

"Garcia, assorted gulls," Morgan began, "what is the situation?"

"The female human woke some hours ago, the male made food which they consumed in relative silence and then they started trialing how to walk… I think." Said one of Garcia's seagulls.

It was probably Tickles.

"Trialing walking? What do you mean?" Morgan inquired. He was aware that Emily had traded her voice for legs, but it wasn't something that happened every day. It wasn't even something that had a history of occurring. In fact, Morgan was inclined to believe it was merely Reid over-exaggerating.

Garcia answered for the group, "the human female –" she nodded her beak toward the house, "does not know how to use her legs … apparently."

Morgan realized that Garcia and Reid were keeping the human female's identity a secret from the larger gathering of gulls. He commended this course of action, as it was already bad enough that Emily had traded with a Sea-Witch, it would double the intensity and horror of the situation if these riff raff were to know the actual identity and importance of their charge.

Once Garcia was sure that the scrumptious red crab understood the nuances of the situation she started to outline her surveillance duty roster.

Morgan was impressed. The eccentric seagull certainly had a keen grasp of all things military. Only, it was too bad that she was an air creature and thus not truly under the purview of Kind David's reach. It might have been nice to get her perspective on a few of his prospective military ideas.

They set about watching Emily and the human male attempt to learn how to walk. Apparently it was much more of a miraculous feat of physics than it looked. One gull circled the house, swooping every so often but not periodically to get a closer look at Emily, to see how she was faring. After about an hour or so, the gulls would switch out in case the human male got too suspicious. Morgan had instigated this amendment to Garcia's fine duty roster, after he had noticed the male's glancing inquiries towards the gulls and their partially hidden group of fish, birds and miscellaneous crab.

Reid was worried about Emily. She was still with the strange human but she wasn't trying to escape. Reid knew that she needed to find _her_ human. What was doing with this one? Didn't she know she was running out of time?

Of course she knew. He finally realized after another heavy flounder sigh.

"What is it, boy?" Morgan asked.

"Oh, nothing. Something. Not now." He responded. Reid knew it wouldn't be a good idea to bring this particular topic up in present company, Garcia excluded of course.

Morgan and Garcia simultaneously looked back over toward Emily and the human. She was silently laughing at something the human was saying, and the man looked happy too. If, as Reid had originally purported, this male was _not_ Emily's human then surely she would be very scared. Terrified in fact. She should have been desperately trying to find Garcia and Reid. But she wasn't. She seemed quite content, for a mermaid-ish human with little walking experience and no voice.

_This_ must be her human, they finally concluded. With that though, both Garcia and Morgan relaxed just a tiny bit.

Strauss looked down onto the glossy, sheer, long days of rubbing away the grit and imperfections to create a pure and clean reflection made out of a sliced, cut gem. Normally this would have just made for a pretty jewel to line a princess' hallway, or a reflection mirror for a vain creature. But Strauss is not vain (not in that sense of the word), nor is she a princess interested in jewels or monetary apparitions of daddy's wealth. Strauss is a Sea-Witch with all the accoutrements that accompany that. This jewel is her summoning mirror, with it she can glimpse through the bounds of natural eye-sight. Or in this specific case, a certain mermaid lounging in the backyard of a certain male human. Strauss peered into the reflection a little more intensely. The human, Aaron, seems taken with the littlest mermaid, but how close can they really get with so little time and so little noise?

* * *

_Okay. Hopefully, next update with be soon._

_Arc.  
_

Better not leave it chance, she thinks.


End file.
